Adjustable rotisserie and broiler



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J. J. PIRZ ADJUSTABLE ROTISSERIE AND BROILER April 22, 1958 Filed Aug. 23, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JOSEPH J PIRZ April 22, 1958 J. J. PIRZ ADJUSTABLE ROTISSERIE AND BROILER S SheetS-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 25, 1954 INVENTOR. JOSEPH J. PIRZ AMI/7N5) v. E B mm ow -W E U0 U0 U0 Uflu nun nu w l nu nU 0U MM 00 a United States Patent 2,831,954 ADJUSTABLE ROTISSERIE AND BROILER Joseph 1. Pin, Flushing, N. Y. Application August 23, 1954, Serial No. 451,589 2 Claims. 01. 219-35 This invention relates to apparatus for cooking foods, and more particularly, has reference to a combination rotisserie and broiler of a generally improved construction.

It is obviously desirable, in the art to which the invention relates, that the apparatus have a maximum amount of versatility, considering the relative size and complexity thereof. Often, a piece of equipment of the category in which the invention falls, must occupy a comparatively small area, due to the necessity of making use of a maximum amount of available space in the confined quarters available in soda fountains, lunch counters, roadside stands, etc. 7 One importantobject of the present invention, accordingly, is to provide a combination rotisserie and broiler which will be so designedas to permitthe same to be used in cooking any of a large variety of foods. In achiev ing this object, the invention is designed to permit use of a selected number of spits, adjustment of the spits toward and away from overhead and underhead resistance units, complete movability of the spits'for use of the device in cooking foods other than those which are skewered, and heating of plates, utensils, rolls, etc.

Patented Apr. 22, 1958 Fig. 4 is an end elevational view of the apparatus as seen from the right of Fig. 1, the door being shown in full lines as it appears when fully open and in dotted lines in a position in which it is being shifted to its closed position.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view partly in longitudinal vertical section and partly in front elevation, the intermediate portion of the apparatus being broken away.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the same scale as Fig. 5, taken substantially on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

The combined rotisserie and broiler constituting the present invention includes vertically disposed, generally rectangular, flat end walls 10, 12 respectively having outwardly turned peripheral flanges 14, 16. A fiat, horizontally disposed bottom wall 18 is secured at its opposite ends to the bottom portions of the flanges and extends between the end walls. Bottom wall 18 has an upwardly turned front edge portion 20, and at its back, merges into vertically extendingangle members 22 integral at their upper ends with a horizontally disposed top wall 24 the front edge of which is integral with a downwardly turned front lip 26. p

The angle members and the top wall are'secured to the back and top portions of the peripheralflanges 14, 16.

, In the construction which has so far been described, it is seen that there is provided a generally rectangular, hollow enclosure, the front of which is formed open, and the back of which is also formed open. Inserted between the angles 22 is a plate of insulation material 28, which can be removed for replacement by a new piece of insulation materialwhenever desired. In this way, the enclosure is open only at its front, and as will be presently described, said open front canbe closed by a hinged front door or closure member.

Another object of importance is to provide a device of i adjusted to a selected position merely by rotation of a conveniently located hand crank.

Still another object of importance is to provide, in a device of the nature referred to, through-support means both at the top and the bottom ofthe device, located immediately above resistance units, which means will include in each instance a fixedplate having a plurality of openings or slots, and a movable shutter plate beneath the fixed plate, sliding correspondingly and adapted to be shifted into and out of positions in which its slots are in registration with those of the first named plate. In this way, it is intended to control the passage of heat through the plates, since not only can the slots be moved both completely into and out of registration, but also, said slots can be partially registered if desired.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which the variousnovel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. l is a front elevational view of a combination rotisserie and broiler constituting the present invention, the front closure being shown in open position.

Fig. 2 is a top'plan view, partly broken away, in which the front closure or door and the top lid are in open position, said door and lid being illustrated fragmentarily.

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view of the apparatusas seen from the left of Fig. l, in which the adjacent end cover has been removed, the full and dotted lines showing different positions of the door and top lid.

The top Wall 24 is formed with a large opening extending over substantially the full area of said top wall, and engaged in said opening is a lid 30, hinge-d along its back edge by hinges 32 to the back edge porti-orrof top wall 24. At its front edge, lid 30 is provided with a handle 34 to facilitate the movement thereof between the closed position shown in Fig. 1 and the open position shown in Fig. 2.

In closely spaced relation to the lid 30 is an upper support plate 36. Plate 36 is extended within ahorizontal plane below the lid, so as to define therebetween a shallow compartment extending over substantially the full area of the top of the apparatus. At its opposite ends, the plate 36 is integrally formed with upwardly and outwardly offset end flanges 33. As shown inFigs. 3 and 5, the end flanges 33 are engaged between depressed portions-40 formed in the end Wall peripheral flanges at the top there of, and the top wall 24.

The uppersupport plate 36, as shown in Fig. 2, is formed over a substantial part of its area with rows of Mounted upon the respective walls are end covers 44,

46 respectively, having inwardly turned peripheral flanges 48, 50, said flanges being integrally formed with outwardly offset, peripheral lips 52, 54. The lips define angular recesses as shown in Fig. 5, that are adapted to receive the opposite end edge portions of the top and end, there is provided a pair of co-planar, flat, horizon tally disposed slide plates 64, 66, having slidable contact with the underside of the fixed support plate 36. The plates 64, 66 are each extended over substantially half the area of the plate 36', as best shown in Fig. 2

The plates 64, 66 are supported for horizontal sliding movement independently of one another, upon horizontally extending guide or track members 68 of L-shaped cross section, that are fixedly secured to the inner surfaces of the lip 26 and the back edge portion of the top wall.

To permit the horizontal adjustment of the plates 64, 66 there are provided (Fig. 2) stems terminating in hand knobs 70, 72, said stems projecting outwardly in opposite directions from the apparatus, through opening formed in the end covers 44,46.

Openings 73 are formed in the respective slide plates, and in one position to which the slide plates are adjusted, are in full registration with the openings 42. However, movement of either slide plate even to a slight extent causes the openings 73, 42 to move out of register, and it Will be appreciated that said openings can be brought completely out of register, thus to close the openings 42, or alternatively, can be moved partially out of register to reduce the amount of heat permitted to flow through the openings 42.

Immediately below the slidable plates 64, 66 there is provided a resistance unit 74 which includes side rods 76 terminating at their opposite ends in upwardly offset end portions 78 engageable in openings provided in the respective end walls. The resistance units can be removed if desired, and are supported, when in use, upon front and back flanges 80 extending longitudinally of the apparatus.

Means is embodied in the invention for vertically adjusting a plurality of guides in which spits, or foodsupport trays can be removably positioned. Said means includes pairs of vertically extending slots 82, 84 formed in the end plates or end walls 10, 12 respectively. Vertically slidable upon the outer surfaces of the. respective end walls are rectangular plate elements 86, 88, the lower ends of which are formed with horizontally and outwardly extending projections 90, 92 having threaded openings receiving vertically extending adjusting screws 94, 96 fast at their lower ends to bevel gears 98, 100 respectively, that are in mesh with coaxial bevel gears 102, 104 respectively. The screws are rotatably journalled at their lower ends upon S-shaped brackets 106, 108 fixedly secured to lower end portions of the respective end I walls.

The gears 102, 104 are fast to the opposite ends of an elongated, horizontally extending shaft 110, journalled at its opposite ends in the respective end walls. One end of the shaft projects beyond the cover 46, and is there provided with a hand crank 112.

It will be appreciated that on rotation of the hand crank, the plate elements 86, 88 will be simultaneously adjusted upwardly or downwardly, due to rotation of the screws that have threaded connections to said plate elements.

Slidable upon the inner surfaces of the respective end walls are plate members 114, 116, and fixed to the plate member 114 are vertically spaced, horizontally extending guides 118 of C-shaped cross section, that extend transversely of the apparatus, said guides being connected to the plate member 114 and plate member 114 being connected to the plate element 86, by pins 119. The pins extend through the slots 82 as shown in Fig. 3. To the plate member 116 there are similar secured guides 120, opposing the guides 118, the guides 120 being attached in proper position to the plate member 116 and to the plate element 88 by pins 121.

A spit assembly 122 is adapted to extend between a selected pair of guides 118, 120, as shown in Fig. 1. The spit assembly can comprise a rectangular frame the opposite ends of which are slidably engaged in the selected guides. Extending between the opposite ends of said frame are longitudinal rods having at longitudinally spaced intervals outwardly ofiset prongs 124 on which the food articles may be spitted. The prongs 124 face one another, so as to permit a single article, such as a frankfurter, to be impaled at opposite ends upon a selected pair of prongs.

While the particular means for energizing the resistance units, etc., will not be described herein, since said means falls well within the skill of those in the art, said means may include conveniently located control rods 126, below which is provided a switch button 128. These are located on the cover 46, and on the body of said cover there can be mounted a control dial 130. All these are conventional parts, and need not be described in detail herein.

A front door or closure is provided, which can be swung to a closed position to completely close the device. When in its closed position, the front door permits viewing of the articles as they are cooked, since the front door comprises a heat-resistant glass pane enclosed within a metallic frame. The front door has been designated at 132, and is provided at its front or outer edge with a handle 134. At its inner edge, the front door includes, at its opposite ends, rearwardly extending fingers 134, terminating in outwardly extending projections 136 that are loosely engageable between rails 138 provided at opposite ends of the apparatus. There is a pair of rails 138 at each end, the rails of said pair being connected at their opposite ends to the legs 56, or 58 as the case may be.

In this way, it is seen that the front door, when in the full line position of Fig. 4, can be swung in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 4, about the pivot axis defined by the projections 136. In this way, the front door can be swung upwardly to a closed position and in said closed position, longitudinally toothed latch bars 140 formed upon the front door are engageable in slots 142 provided in the peripheral flanges 14, 16 of the end walls (see Fig. 1).

When, however, the door is in open position, it will be supported on its handle 134 as shown. Alternatively, the door can be slidably recessed within the space below the cooking enclosure, merely by sliding the projections 136 to the right in Fig. 4 upon their associated rails 138. In this way, the door is disposed out of the way, with the entire device open at its front.

A lower food-support tray 144 is included in the device, and has a low, upwardly extending, peripheral flange to prevent the food from moving accidentally therefrom. At its opposite ends, the tray 144 is slidably engaged, drawer fashion, in confronting guides 146 extending transversely of the broiler at the opposite ends thereof.

Below the tray 144 (Fig. 6) there is mounted a stationary, horizontally disposed, flat lower support plate 148, having longitudinal rows of slots 150. Immediately below the plate 148 there is slidably mounted a shutter plate 152 having openings 154 registerable with theslots in one position of the shutter plate. The shutter plate is slidably mounted upon support bars 156 of angular cross section, extending longitudinally of the apparatus at front and back thereof, and below the bars 156 a lower resistance unit 158 is mounted, immediately above the bottom wall 18.

To permit manual control of the position of the movable shutter plate 152, there is provided a hand knob 160 secured to a stem that is slidable mounted in the end cover 46, said stem being fixed to the adjacent end of the plate 152.

In this way, the knob 160, when shifted in one direction, causes the slot 150, 154 to move into registration. When shifted in the other direction, the knob causes said slots to be out of registration, thus closing the slots 150 and preventing the passage of heat therethrough. Of course, the slots can be partially registered, to provide for a partial flow of heat through the slots 150.

It will be understood that the spit assembly 122 can be removed whenever desired, and in place thereof there can be mounted in guides 118,120 food trays or other 5. supports, such as grills, on which the articles of food can be disposed. For example, if hamburgers are to be cooked, a grill can be siidably engaged at its opposite ends in the guides 118, 120, and said grill can be manual ly adjusted upwardly or downwardly as desired, to prop erly locate the same in respect to the resistance units. Further, by manipulation of the shutter plates 64, 66 at the top of the device, all the heat of the upper resistance unit can be caused to move downwardly, none of said heat escaping through the upper portion of the device.- In

this way, both resistance units can be simultaneously used so as to evenly cook the articles of food on the top and on the bottom thereof.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction herein disclosed and the right is reserved to all changes and modifications coming within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent 1. A combination rotisserie and broiler comprising a hollow housing having a main cooking compartment formed with an open front, a front closure mounted on the housing to close said open front, a top lid on the I housing, resistance heating means mounted within said housing, and an upper plate mounted in said housing below and in closely spaced relation to said lid and cooperating with the lid to form a closed auxiliary heating compartment in the housing to which access is had by raising the lid, said plate having an unobstructed upper surface and having a plurality of openings formed therein through which heat may pass from the main compart- I merit to the auxiliary compartment, said auxiliary com partment further including shutter plates slidably mounted below and in contact with said upper plate to control the flow of heat through the openings of the upper plate, said shutter plates having slots registerable with the openings of the upper plate in one position of the shutter plates, the shutter plates being movable independently of one another, each shutter plate extending for substantially half the area of the upper plate, said shutter plates each 6 including stems extending outwardly therefrom to the exterior of the housing, and knobs on the stems adapted to be grasped by a user for manual adjustment of, the shutter plates to selected positions in respect to each other and to the upper plate. I

2. A combination rotisserie and broiler comprising a hollow housing having an open front, said housing being divided into a main compartment to which access is had through said open front, and a closed auxiliary warming compartment above the main compartment, a front closure hingedly mounted upon the housing for movement to a closed position in which it closes said open front, a top lid on the housing providing acess to said auxiliary compartmenhand resistance heating means mounted in said housing at the upper and lower ends thereof, to supply heat to the main and auxiliary compartments, said housing including slotted fixed andmovable plates constituting the partitioning means separating the auxiliary andmain compartments, said plates being relatively movable to control the extent of heat passing from the main to the auxiliary compartment, said main compartment including at the bottom thereof a fixed plate having a plurality of openings and a movable shutter plate below said fixed plate, said shutter plate having a plurality of openings registering with those of the last named fixed plate, the shutter plate having a handle exteriorly of the housing to adjust the same to selected positions for moving the openings therein into and out of registration with the fixed plate, one of said resistance units being disposed below said last namedplates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATESv PATENTS 

